Dean Delivers will take it slow after two close defeats

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Michael Yates sends out favored Alecka Star in an allowance race Friday at Gulfstream. At least he won’t have to deal with any horses from trainer Todd Pletcher’s barn in that race.

The Pletcher stable dealt Yates’s top 3-year-old prospect Dean Delivers a half-length defeat here last Saturday in the Grade 3 Swale with My Prankster. Four weeks earlier, Pletcher’s undefeated Dean’s List bested Dean Delivers by a neck.

“Obviously, it’s tough to get beat twice in a row like that, but when it’s all said and done, I feel very fortunate enough to have a horse good enough to chase a couple of really talented horses of Todd’s like he just did,” Yates said.

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Yates said he’s not sure what’s next for Dean Delivers, who earned a career-best 89 Beyer Speed Figure in the Swale.

“He’s coming off two very hard races following a layoff, so we’re not in any rush to bring him back,” Yates said. “We’ll take a kind of wait-and-see approach, see how he trains, and come up with a game plan. I think he will stretch out, although I’m not quite sure what his best distance is yet. I won’t rule the Fountain of Youth out, although there are other options for him, even if we keep him at one turn for the time being, later in the meet.”

◗ Diamond Oops and Carotari are the leading candidates for Saturday’s Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint, which shares top billing on the card with the Ladies’ Turf Sprint. Both races will be decided at five furlongs on the grass and carry a purse of $100,000.

Diamond Oops has not started since finishing eighth in the Grade 1 Keeneland Turf Mile in October. Carotari led throughout to register a 1 3/4-length victory over Group 1 winner Extravagant Kid in the Janus Stakes on Dec. 31.